Santa Croce, the church of the Franciscans…

Santa Croce, the church of the Franciscans in Florence, is one of the finest examples of Italian Gothic architecture.

Begun in 1294, possibly designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, it is finished in 1442 (with the exception of the nineteenth-century Gothic Revival facade and campanile).

On many of the interior walls are masterpieces of Tuscan Gothic or proto-Renaissance painting: the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels' frescoes are by Giotto; the Baroncelli Chapel has frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi and a polyptych by Agnolo Gaddi, who also did the frescoes in the Castellani Chapel.

There are examples of sculpture by such masters of early Renaissance art as Rossellino, Donatello, Mino da Fiesole, Andrea della Robbia, and Benedetto da Maiano.